DAY ONE
I shuffled into the Convention Center squished shoulder to shoulder with a girl dressed as Samus and a guy dressed as Pit. Free lanyards and stickers were being thrown our way and I was soon faced with the predicament of deciding what to do first. The PAX South 2016 Power Guide was a great help in planning out my weekend, as all of the timings for panels and tournaments for the following three days were listed along with the map of the floor plan. I found myself in the Expo Hall first, and huge signs of Capcom, Alienware, Astro Gaming, and Twitch were the first to catch my eye. Day One primarily consisted of walking through the convention center and getting a feel of where everything was. Though PAX is renowned for being a smaller scale event, lengthy lines were the result of anxious attendees wanting to check out what was on display at each booth. It’s size allows con-goers to fully max out all that is offered to check out between panels to see and games to play.
DAY TWO
Both 3 Day and Saturday Only passes had been sold out since November so I was pretty hyped to see what Day Two had in store. Cosplayers went all out and you could easily spot everyone from Obi Wan to Sonya Blade with plenty of Inklings and Vault Dwellers in the mix. It was the most packed of the three days, and many developers such as Cliffy B and YouTubers such as Angry Joe could be found wandering the Expo Hall. The Classic Arcade, which “displayed homage to a classic 1980’s arcade” provided an alternate area of free gaming, as did the Handheld Lounge, where you could find a room full of bean bags and let StreetPass do it’s thing. An area that stood out to me was a room called “Jam Space,” which housed a little stage, a couple of guitars, a keyboard, and drum set for mini-collabs when you needed a break from all the gaming. Saturday was also a popular tournament day, with titles such as Goldeneye 64, Mario Kart 64, and Super Smash Bros 64 being played as well as the ongoing tournament for the $10,000 prize going to the victor of the Smash Event held by Twitch in the PAX Arena.
A peek into the PC room, with white tournament computers and all the rest available for Steam Freeplay.
DAY THREE
Sunday provided the perfect opportunity to run through the Expo Hall again and check out all that I might have missed the first two days. It was much less crowded, and for this reason I was also able to replay many of my favorite games showcased at the convention. One of said games was Umbrella Corps, a Capcom competitive multiplayer shooter set in the Resident Evil universe that will be releasing for PS4 and PC in May 2016. Also on display by Capcom was Street Fighter V, which will be released later this February. Other hits from this year’s PAX were Dreadnought: the combat flight simulator from Grey Box Games which will release in 2016, Song of the Deep: a 2D side scrolling action-adventure from Insomniac Games which will be releasing Summer 2016, and my personal favorite, God Hates Charades: the genius lovechild of Cards Against Humanity and Charades brought to you by God Hates Games which is available for purchase now.
PAX South is a convention that is just as captivating for diehard gamers as it is for those who only play casually. Between the daily options of console, arcade, PC/Bring Your Own Computer, and tabletop freeplay, there’s always something to keep you engaged. PAX brings people of different backgrounds together through one common interest and as a result resonates an atmosphere like that of a family reunion. Without prior knowledge, it would've been impossible to tell that this was only the second year of it's stop in San Antonio. For this reason I've got high hopes that PAX South 2017 will be an even be an even better experience!